Big victory for OccupySF, Occupy Oakland reconvenes after crackdown (VIDEO)

10.27.11 - 5:53 am | Steven T. Jones |

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And their flag is still there.

Steven T. Jones

(UPDATED/CORRECTED AT 11:30 AM)The Occupy movements in San Francisco and Oakland reportedly scored big victories last night, with huge numbers of people overcoming police crackdowns and the shutdown of public transit stations, turning back city efforts to clear the OccupySF encampment and voting in the General Assembly in Oakland to call a general strike for Nov. 2.

We’ll have a full reports later today. Occupy Oakland protesters showed up outside a cordoned-off Frank Ogawa Plaza to figure out how to respond to the previous day's aggressive police raid, which made national news and left Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen in the hospital with a fractured skull after apparently being hit by a tear gas canister or some other projectile fired by police.

In San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee and the SFPD threatened to shut down the OccupySF encampment over alleged public health problems – which the movement tried to address by bringing in their own porta-potties because the city refused to provide them at night – but the camp swelled with supporters. Among them were mayoral candidates John Avalos, Leland Yee, Jeff Adachi, and David Chiu, as well as Sups. Jane Kim, Eric Mar, and David Campos.

Video by Rebecca Bowe

They spoke to the crowd around 2 a.m., expressing their support and saying that neither police nor Lee had responded to requests for information about the city's intentions. Other notables on the scene included writer Rebecca Solnit, SF Democratic Party Chair Aaron Peskin, Shawn San Liu of the Chinese Progressive Association, and local labor leaders Tim Paulson, Gabriel Haaland, and Mike Casey. Spirits were high, and protesters were ready to link arms and form a human blockade in the event that police showed up.

SF police reportedly massed nearby in the early morning hours, preparing to clear Justin Herman Plaza, and there were rumors that hundreds more were on the way. BART stations in the area were shut down to prevent more arrivals, while police in Oakland also reportedly stopped protesters there who tried to cross the bay to support OccupySF. But the raid was then reportedly called off because police were outnumbered and possibly to avoid a repeat of the violence and mass arrests that have plagued Oakland since the decision to clear the encampment there, and protesters sent out jubilant messages of victory.

Check back later for video and eyewitness details of what went down, from the the Guardian's Rebecca Bowe (who contributed to this report) and Yael Chanoff, as well as information on what comes next. Or follow the Oakland live stream here or San Francisco live stream here.

Comments

Olbermann: Oakland mayor must

Olbermann: Oakland mayor must fire police chief or resign

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/26/olbermann-oakland-mayor-must-fire-...

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 8:16 am

I presume that the use of the

I presume that the use of the term "nonlethal weapons" in this post is a bit of highly appropriate journalistic sarcasm.

When I was working intensively on police accountability issues in San Francisco circa 1989–1995, I looked into the manufacturer's specs for the bazooka-like guns police use to fire teargas canisters, rubber bullets and so-called "bean bags" (actually, net bags tightly packed with hard plastic pellets).

All of them include warnings that the projectiles can cause severe injury or death if fired at too close a range or if fired at at an individual's head, face or throat. Using the weapons in a nonlethal way requires discipline and tactical rigor not displayed by the police during their violent attacks on Occupy Oakland.

Posted by Gerard Koskovich on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 8:45 am

Oakland statement

Kevin Seal with Occupy Oakland issued the following press release:

Over 1,600 Occupy Oakland voters chose by consensus to push for a
General Strike, set to happen on Wednesday, November 2. With 1,484
votes in favor of strike, 46 votes against, 77 votes to abstain, the
96% majority vote carried the measure.

The vote came after announcements of solidarity from Occupy Wall
Street, Occupy San Francisco and the Egyptian revolution. The Occupy
Wall Street protesters in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park announced
hours earlier that they would donate $20,000 to Occupy Oakland, to
assist in the rebuilding of infrastructure after Tuesday morning's
police raid. Egyptian revolutionaries declared that they would march
in Tahrir Square this Friday, October 28, to show support for the
Oakland protesters.

Oakland's solidarity with Occupy San Francisco came in the form of
shared defense. Immediately following the General Assembly, many
protesters headed directly to San Francisco to help defend the Market
Street encampment from a police raid. In anticipation of such a show
of support, BART closed the 12th Street, 19th Street and Embarcadero
stations to prevent the protesters from helping each other.

Occupy Oakland embraces a diversity of tactics among its supporters,
and is firmly rooted in the common understanding that there will be no
endorsement of political parties or politicians running for office.

Posted by steven on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 9:16 am

Lot of political grandstanding around Occupy.

Politicos weaken the movement.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 9:17 am

Support the protests

It is in the interest of the politicians to support the protests. If they're worried about sanitation, they should help the protesters with sanitation.

Posted by GuestGordon Hilgers on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 9:21 am

...Not to mention that all

...Not to mention that all the unions/special interests are down there as well.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 9:31 am

It's inevitable. And some of them are sincere.

Just keep your consensus process and your horizontal movement integrity intact and form points of unity with them (especially with the unions and the sincere politicos) when it's strategically and morally right.

They can be strong allies at key moments, and the unions will be crucial.

Teach those union people horizontal, shop floor working group, consensus based syndicalism!

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 10:08 am

Why?

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 10:02 am

who is supposed to general strike?

Will the account reps and not show up to work at the Guardian to stick it to the man?

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 9:38 am

More of your pathetically obvious fear.

More of your pathetically obvious fear, coming out as inane baseless ridicule.

You are a capitalist collapse poster boy.

The answer to your question - is everyone with a boss like you.

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 9:58 am

?what?

Get this, out in the real world no one is going to general strike.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 10:37 am

Really?

They did so the last time we had similar economic and political conditions.

Have you ever actually studied history???

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 10:52 am

A General Strike isn't a one day walkout

It's all workers out for months at a time.

A one day "sickie" might make you feel important but won't affect anything.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 12:01 pm

Actually, some general strikes are indeed a short, sharp, shock.

Sometimes that's all it takes.

Learn history.

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 12:35 pm

A strike that's "short" or "sharp" isn't "General".

And I notice you provided no example.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 12:55 pm

Actually, general strikes are often short. You lack education.

San Francisco, General Strike, 4 Days, which led to larger west coast general strike that lasted much longer.

As posted by Brooks in another part of this thread:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_General_Strike

Do you ever get tired of shooting your mouth off like an idiot without doing a simple web search first, and then being proven to be completely wrong?

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 1:53 pm

So you still cannot point to a single example of

a REAL "General Strike" affecting real change?

And of course if it had have done, then we wouldn't be needing to occupy urine-infested public spaces.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 2:14 pm

Successful 4 day SF General Strike...

Looks like you, as usual, you don't know what you are talking about...

Here's the URL as also posted by Brooks below,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_General_Strike

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 3:01 pm

You are a modern day Eugene V Debbs

Without the sense of reality.

Posted by guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 12:29 pm

OK, "Guest", when was the last successful "General Strike"

Not in my lifetime - that's for sure.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 12:39 pm

1934: Successful General Strike Triggered By 4 Day Strke In SF

Here you go..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_General_Strike

Any questions?

Posted by Eric Brooks on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 12:50 pm

If you think that's a succes, then I'd

really hate to see what you regard as a failure.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 3:36 pm

Surviving one night without being evicted is a

fairly unambitious definition of "victory". The authorities can close these camps down whenever they choose. At least in Sf's case, they may be waiting until after the election.

And of course winter is on the side of the authorities.

Meanwhile there is a growing concern that the infiltration of these camps by homeless people, petty criminals and drug dealers will undermine the protests.

If the camps aren't growing, they are failing. A few hundred people aren't nearly enough to affect any change. In 1968 Paris, it took millions.

Posted by Anonymous on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 9:56 am

Your morning meals?

Dude, do you eat human baby livers for breakfast, or for mid day snack?

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 10:13 am

You = concern troll

You = concern troll

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 10:19 am

Chiu and Kim support billionaires by day

Unbelievable,

Watching the show last night (4 different live video streams til 4am when Mayor backed down) ... seeing Chiu and Kim and Mar make speeches to the crowd without mentioning their day job ties to the very billionaires the crowd was demonstrating against.

This crap is particularly egregious because both
Chiu and Campos were at the anti-corporate 'Occupy
SF' encampment in the middle of the night along
with Jane Kim, Eric Mar are among the biggest
supporters of the billionaire's tax breaks for
Twitter and Linked.com.

That's your 2011 Board of Supervisors folks.

Day job ... kissing billionaire asses.

Middle of night ... secret revolutionaries.

What hypocrites.

Only politician who had a right to be at 'Occupy'
was Jeff Adachi who spoke to abc news around
2am with one simple message:

YOUR

LAWYER

He is too. Not just at night. All day too for
365 days a year.

Adachi interview ...

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=840...

Adachi for Mayor!

Avalos for Mayor!

Baum for Mayor!

Hall for Mayor!

Miyamoto for Sheriff!

Gascon for DA

Yes on D and H and No on everything else.

Go Niners!

Delete & Prev | Delete & Next

Posted by h. brown on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 1:02 pm

Yeah, I like Adachi for Mayor. He has more integrity.

But I like Chiu as well. So right now I am leaning towards:

1. Chui
2. Adachi
3. Lee

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 1:27 pm

Iraq War Vet attacked for exercising his first amendment rights

http://sfist.com/2011/10/27/scott_olsen_attacked_for_his_first.php

Posted by Matlock on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 2:30 pm

Can't stand these Mayoral

Can't stand these Mayoral candidates using this face time for votes. Especially Chiu, he does not know what he believes in, just does and says whatever he deems popular. I am voting for Tony Hall. And no, I am not rich or Republican or anything else the protesters can hate for me for, I just happen to think this protest could be handled better and it would get even more support. Amongst those approx 1000 protesters are homeless, drug dealers, and countless jerks who have no idea why they are there, except to take advantage of the situation.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 3:02 pm

Sharing to give and gain advantage, is the point.

THE central point of this whole movement is to empower the most disenfranchised such as the homeless, those resorting to crime for survival, and those young people who know only that when they look at their future they see an empty joke and want something better for themselves.

So to the extent that their self interest is guiding them to the Occupy movement, Right On! That is exactly what they should be doing, and is exactly what the organizers are encouraging them to do, so that we can both give them better lives immediately, and at the same time, teach them how to successfully rise up, keep that better life, and then help others to achieve it as well.

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 3:26 pm

Most of those homeless chose to be that way by

leading a life of crime and/or taking drugs.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 3:37 pm

Not most

but a fair amount are chronically homeless. They're the most difficult part of the homeless population to deal with.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 4:55 pm

We do "deal" with them.

We provide hostels and shelters.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 5:17 pm

You do...?

Then, why are there still thousands of homeless people without even a shelter to go to?

Posted by Aragorn on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 5:39 pm

Chiu and Kim support billionaires by day

Unbelievable,

That's your 2011 Board of Supervisors folks.

Day job ... kissing billionaire asses.

Middle of night ... secret revolutionaries.

What hypocrites.

Only politician who had a right to be at 'Occupy'
was Jeff Adachi who spoke to abc news around
2am with one simple message:

YOUR

LAWYER

He is too. Not just at night. All day too for
365 days a year.

Adachi interview ...

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=840...

Adachi for Mayor!

Avalos for Mayor!

Baum for Mayor!

Hall for Mayor!

Miyamoto for Sheriff!

Gascon for DA

Yes on D and H and No on everything else.

Go Niners!

Delete & Prev | Delete & Next

Posted by h. brown on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 4:28 pm

about time

I've been wondering, where all these representatives "of the people" were when their constituents are getting their heads cracked in night after night. Simply for exercising their First Amendment rights. Prior to this, John Avalos was the only supe to show solidarity with OccupySF. Every damn official should be out there with us, ensuring our right to protest and be heard.

Kudos to John Avalos and the other supes/ reps, who turned out. But don't let them co-opt the movement for their own purposes/ campaigns. Keep it horizontal, compas.

Posted by Lisa on Oct. 27, 2011 @ 4:37 pm